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I would say it depends who you are, what you look like and where you come from.

But as a super privileged white German the US border control (around 2009) was definitely the harshest I have experienced.

I travelled to many places in Africa, Asia and South America as well, never had been questioned and probed like i was in the USA. Ofc i cant speak to the experience in EU.

Edit: added date

> I travelled to many places in Africa, Asia and South America as well, never had been questioned and probed like i was in the USA.

The last time I travelled to Mozambique, some “security person” armed with what looked like an AK47 (I don’t know firearms), asked me to see my passport. He then proceeded to demand payment, uhm, I mean ransom. At the airport.

That’s far far scarier than anything I’ve experienced at a U.S. airport, even as a foreigner.

As an American who has lived in 5 or so countries it is not unique to the US, but it does seem to be a specialty of US Border Patrol.

Spare the whataboutism, the US has always been in a category of its own.